High quality professional development in science has traditionally been always a face-to-face affair. However, the pandemic has taught us that remote courses have their use, with a mix of live sessions directly facilitated, and offline sessions done at a participant's own pace in between the live sessions. Remote courses, often scheduled at times that suit teachers, technicians and others, can also help fit into busy schedules. Online courses - where participants run through everything at their own pace - can also be very useful for people who want to extend their knowledge and practice, but cannot commit to a regular slot...and STEM Learning’s wide variety of these provide a very cost-effective way to target specific areas of support.
Mixing remote courses with face-to-face has an even greater impact, as it allows the in-person element to concentrate on the hands-on science component. A good model is where core subject knowledge is developed in the remote sessions, with the practical component in a lab for the face-to-face. STEM Learning has a number of such courses, such as Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 chemistry subject knowledge delivered as a remote course (around five hours each) with a follow up intensive residential course. There is also Chemistry for Non-Specialists which attracts a bursary which can be used to offset the cost of the remote courses. Similar groupings of courses for biology and physics can be ideal for those teaching out of specialism.
For primary teachers, science subject knowledge and working scientifically as remote courses can be really useful - check out our primary remote CPD offering here.
Remote learning has also allowed teachers and technicians to access CPD which is key to their role, but is often overlooked or not prioritised for face-to-face CPD. A particular example of this is effective health and safety. A suite of remote courses, to suit early career teachers, heads of department and technicians offer a good grasp of the fundamentals to ensure safe teaching and learning spaces are maintained. It is surprising how many science teachers and technicians have never received any formal H&S training - and remote courses can be a good starting point.
While remote courses will never replace professional development where teachers and technicians are in the lab or classroom together, remote and online can provide solid foundations for further development. They can make the time spent face-to-face even more impactful by highlighting particular areas of a topic that a participant wants to target in advance. For a school or department, it might also be that everyone can participate in a remote session, with one person then attending face-to-face CPD and cascading effectively to everyone else...which can be a win-win for supporting and developing staff in the most cost-effective manner.